L'Orage
by DerpMaster
Summary: Aya suffers a great injustice that polarizes the already divided Tengu society and leads to the collapse of civil order and into a stalemate, a step away from a bloody civil war. To complicate matters, a force from the outside world that has taken Gensokyo as its resting place starts to get wind of the situation as it spills down the valley and decides to join the conflict.
1. Chapter 1

**Another common day of reporting**

The wind was steady in its cold howling, and a blue filter had descended from the outcast sky, covering the world bellow with the faint and eerily shade. From the grey, heavy clouds was coming a faint drizzle, so thin that it was more of a mist than a rain. The world had turned into a painting of shades of blue.

Huge black wings pierced the air making the mist dance into vortexes with each powerful stroke as they propelled their owner through the sky; a slender woman dressed in white and black. _Each time I look to this place it is different, always changing, but somehow it's always remains the same. _She though as she observed the forest-covered hilly landscape bellow. _Gensokyo… my home. _

She tried to delay her arrival as much as possible, not because any fear or anxiety of what she would find at her destination but because the weather was simply superb to fly. Everyone one from humans to every kind of youkai hated those grey skies and the rain even more, all but her. The silence, the smell of the sky falling down and of the forest rising up, the occasional faint smoke, the cool mist on her face and wings, and above all that blue light. All of that made her think of the past, the present and even to bother with the future; an odd mix of joy and melancholy. _How long has it being? _She asked to herself. Usually she would sink into those feelings and memories for hours, sometimes days or even more. She hated it and yet, somehow, loved it, but above all she needed it; freedom and peace, even if short-lived, she needed them to keep her busy mind from running awry. And like it always her peace ended as she arrived at her destination and she had a job to be done.

The Forest of Magic was the densest and darkest patch of vegetation and other things on Gensokyo, with the exception of the outskirts of the tengu territory on the youkai Mountain. It was a dark, thick and damp environment filled with incredibly old and twisted trees as well as the most varied array of mushrooms and other non-plant things. It was regarded as a place of mystery if not of evil, so humans and even a few of the week youkais tended to avoid it, something understandable considering the oppressive atmosphere the place as if it was not just things on the dark that offered danger but the forest itself. But the owner of the jet black wings nothing had to fear, she knew the reputation was greatly overstated and that nothing on that arcane place could harm her; nothing was match for her.

She spotted the clearing on the forest she was aiming for and landed on its outskirts, on a huge and perfectly horizontal branch of an oak tree that was probably almost as old as she had dwelled on that land. At the center of the clearing was a small western styled cottage, it had two stories plus an attic inside its disproportionately tall and steep roof topped with a multitude of small and crocked metal chimneys and a single large brick one on one of the extremes of house.. It was almost shapeless in its asymmetry, with blatant difference on color and material of parts of its vine-covered showing that it was built, rebuilt, and modified multiple times with parts added and removed over the years; she saw how much it had changed. The house had an unkept appearance with trash all over the external walls and on the front yard that except for a small cobbled path was being slowly but steadily reclaimed by the dark forest around it, some of the windows were broken and covered with planks; it was as if it was a ruin, but the smoke coming from its chimneys told otherwise.

From her branch, just below the canopy of the forest, the winged woman was concealed but had a poor vision so she had to stay on a crouching position to watch the house. It was slight uncomfortable but better than soil her pristine clothes with the dirt of the tree bark and moss, or not to be able to get a good picture of her subject of interest, but above all if she needed she would have the impulse to launch herself into the air in case it was needed as her hiding spot was too low to start her flight by gliding away. She then began to wait for her moment.

While she waited and time passed by, the spectacle of mist dancing in the wind through the forest accompanied by the perpetual dance between light and shadow made she remember of her crow days, simpler days. The smoke coming from the collection of chimneys started to come out in greater volume and intensity, and in a somewhat pinkish tone of grey. The preparations for the show had started inside the witch's dwelling and it would soon start, but soon to witches may even take longer than soon to a millenary youkai.

Mid-day came and mid-day went away, night was getting close as the intensity of the blue light faded away and its shade grew darker and darker. She checked her camera to see if the film was ready, and with the proper focus and exposure for the shot she was hoping to get. Unsurprisingly like herself the camera was dry, at this point in her life to create a blanket of air to keep her dry was already an automatic reflex to rain and mist; anything less would be inexcusable to a crow tengu, specially the Wind God Girl. As she was finishing o adjust the setting of her camera the soon happened. A faint golden light started to shine from the whole set of windows of the second floor of the cottage, and from one that was wide open the silhouette of the witch with her pointy hat could be seeing projected on a wall. And along with her shadow spots of more intense light were dancing and flicking on the walls like tiny stars, not long after they appeared it seemed that they started to detach from the wall and float in the air inside the room, pouring down from the open window and disappearing shortly after. After some time a second shapeless shadow appeared besides the witch's.

The reporter pointed her camera to the window and zoomed in, but kept on watching and waiting for the right moment with her keen eyes, better than any camera that the Kappa had ever made; she only hopped she picked the right side of the house. The source of the shadow became clear from the next window; it was a big lump of what seemed to iron with a few pieces of scrap metal. It was floating in the air, with the slightest up and down movement, and after a few moments it started to change color from black to a dull but luminous red and soon it was glowing with a strong yellowish white light. It lost its shape and become an amorphous blob of molten metal. "Almost there." Mumbled the crow, mirroring the words the witch just said.

Out of the molten metal and object started to take shape. A stream of sparks started to fly from it and poured down from the open windows, chimneys and cracks on the walls, and after a sudden flash the object revealed its new shape, still illuminated by the magic. It was incredible, but not what the reporter was after, in reality she had already witnessed and recorded that magic in all its steps a few times already; she was after the perfect shot to star her article.

The witch picked the object, now already cold, an irregular, lumpy chain connected to a pyramid of polished metal in one end a and a multi limbed star on the other. "What a useless pile of junk! Well, it is a beginning at least." The crow repeated the faint words of the witch.

The witch put her head outside the window to catch some fresh air; she had long messy blond hair with a single braid on the right side, tied with a white bow. Her forehead was dirt and sweat just like her clothes, and plastered on her face was a subtle bite wide smile and her hazel eyes were shining with joy; that was the moment. Aya took as many photos and as fast as her camera would allow and making slight adjustments to the focus and zoom to make sure she would get at least one perfect shot, one that could accurately transmit the joy and accomplishment she had just witnessed.

Out of the nothing the metal object began to glow again, now in a purplish eerily luminescence and in an instant it returned to its original shape, crumbling away from the hands of the girl now with a devastated expression. _Well, nothing that a little "reinterpretation" of the fact won't solve; she will thank me for that. _The reporter said to herself, already thinking on the final version of her article. She then noticed the witch was staring directly to where she was, and her face was red and twisted with rage. "Oh! The lens…" She mumbled, realizing their reflex gave her position away. Without thinking twice she jumped straight up and with the help of her wind pierced the canopy without even touching its branches or leaves, just in time before the wide multicolored beam of light put an end to the ancient tree.

After a short glide she landed with the utmost grace, almost weightless on top of the cottage's roof. "Aya! You freaking bitch! It's the goddamn third time this week, what do you want?!" The witch screamed from the window, trying in vain to get a glimpse of the tengu, she them could be heard frankly running down the stair and slamming open her front door.

"Ayayayaya! Don't you have the least consideration for such illustrious and dedicated guest like myself, who waited half a day in the rain and cold just to witness your work? You break my heart, but I forgive you." Aya shouted back, but maintained the sweet and calm tone of her voice. Then she added. "Oh! And besides, it's the tenth time this week. You're not the most observing of humans are you, Marisa?"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah! Aya is your name, now shut up and go to somewhere I can shoot you! Or to hell, whatever is better to you." Marisa shouted back, running through the tall grass, trying to get a good shot of the tall tengu perked at her rooftop.

Aya was starting to enjoy that little game; she always did as that was half of the fan of being a reporter, so she startled the witch a little more. "Well, it seems that the noble work of the media isn't as respected as it should by some individuals, but don't worry. That was the last batch of pictures. You won't see me again… that is until I deliver the newest edition of the Bunbunmarum staring none other than… you, Kirisame Marisa."

That worked splendid well as the usually charming and calm girl had deranged into a mad fury, Aya could almost imagine the foam that she would be spurting in a few moments, and shot of adrenaline run through her slender body. "Y-You! You dare not make another one of those slanderous pieces of shit you call a newspaper! If you do I promise I will kick your fucking ass and then roast you, even if I have to drag you out of that damn Youkai Mountain." _She is even better than Reimu, you just need to push her a little more for her to shine. _But that was not enough, she wanted her to explode, that would make the apology when she reads her article even sweeter.

"Then why don't you try it now? I think I have some extra time today to play." The gaunt tengu arrogantly rested against the chimney challenged the witch.

"Oh, now we're talking. Just wait for me to get up ther-" Marisa stopped halfway through her sentence, and started to look around herself.

Aya calmly put back the lens-cover on her camera and asked Marisa. "Forgot something? Your broom, I suppose. Go ahead, go inside and pick it, just make sure you're fast. Otherwise I might fly away if you take too long."

"How about I just shoot you?" Marisa asked, already with her octagonal Hakkero on hand and for Aya.

Aya laughed back to her. "Go ahead, but again, don't take too long." She knew very well she wouldn't fire and risk hitting her house in the process. _Just one little more push._

Marisa then began to walk around her house, trying to get the better angle to take her shot. To counter that, Aya simply started to move to the other side of the house, to put the roof in the way of Marisa's Master Spark. Marisa kept on circling and Aya went back to the main brick chimney. The moss covered spine of the roof was slippery and fairly round, making a very narrow and hard path to anyone to cross, anyone but a Tengu. Even with her single tooth geta crossing the roof and dance through the metal chimneys was as easy to Aya as lying on a bed. "Just tell me something." Aya asked as she reached the safety of the brick chimney again. "Why are you so angry?"

"There are a few reasons. Mainly the fact you're an annoying bitch that has nothing better to do than bother me and to write lies. And there is also the fact you won't fucking stay still!" Marisa said.

"Lies? What lies?!" Aya said with fake surprised face and a poorly concealed smile. "Sure there is some unique interpretation of the facts and educated speculation from my part, but I never write lies. Take for example your kleptomania." Marisa didn't answer, but her face showed Aya was pushing the right button. "But even though you do have your reasons to dislike the scrutiny of my work, I think there is a little more to your attitude than the blessing of my presence." Marisa stopped exactly where she began to circle the house, in front of the cobbled path and in front of the shredded oak tree. "I guess you tried to play, so did I. Well, it was a pleasure as always Marisa but it is already high time and I still have a lot of work to do. Expect an especial delivery to you, Reimu and the rest of Gensokyo in a few days."

"I am warning you, Aya. I won't hold back if you start spreading lies about me again." Marisa said in an angry and grave voice.

Aya got off the chimney and squashed, ready to jump in the air. She stopped and said one last thing to Marisa. "You really should calm yourself, only because of that redundant failure and you're already raging. It's not good for your health and your whole training, at this pace that other witch… Patchouli, will recover much sooner than expected her stolen-" And she swallowed her own words as she launched herself in to the air with incredible speed, barely avoiding the Master Spark that obliterated the brick chimney and half of the house's roof.

Marisa screamed like mad and shot again and again trying to take down Aya, but the tengu avoided the pillars of light with the same easy as she had danced over the now collapsed roof. As a final taunt Aya flew just a few centimeters to the side of Marisa with such speed that the wind threw her into a puddle of mud and she lost her Hakkero. She screamed and she cried, and as she raged over the puddle trying to get up only to fall on it again.

Aya looked back to the destroyed house and the pitiful scene on its front yard and mumbled to herself. "You ungrateful brat, you are going to thank for all this effort." She then slowed down, rose to just below the clouds and calmly flew away and began to appreciate the beautiful land that she lived as she became one with the night and the growing rain.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter II**

**The Crow's Nest**

Aya was heading back to Youkai Mountain, following the Tenryu River upstream as her usual route for that part of Gensokyo. Trying to enjoy her night a little more and thinking on the witch's promise she decide to take a little detour just to be safe. Instead of keeping heading straight north to the Youkai Mountain she made a detour to the northwest through the valley. The valley was the backbone of Gensokyo, in between the mighty range of the perpetually snowy Youkai Mountains to the north and a smaller range to the south; it was the only part of Gensokyo that was relatively flat and consequently the most inhabited and buzzy part of the land. And following the valley along with Aya were a myriad of small rivers and creeks that snaked their way from the forest of magic at one extreme and to the Misty Lake at the other.

On her way Aya passed by the human village, right outside the forest of magic. An unnatural collection of straight parallel roads, square blocks filled with square houses that sprawled over land and rivers like a blight on a maple leaf. Its inhabitants had square minds like their little universe they never dared to leave except to plow their fields that were flanked by the two extremes of the northern mountain range. Aya didn't liked the place neither its people, save a few exceptions, but they were useful in a way or another; she was glad there was no reason for her to land there that night.

Further into her path she spotted the immense pagoda of the Myouren temple shinning in the golden glory of its uncountable paper lanterns hanging from it just like the very own temple appeared to float in mid-air over its reflection on the black lake the native gods had created along with the terrain they cleared. It was the single tallest structure in the whole Gensokyo, dwarfing everything from the Scarlet Devil Mansion to all the empty iron towers the Kappa had built and even challenging the hills to the south and East in its static race to the sky. It was only surpassed and dwarfed by Youkai Mountains the impenetrable fortress of rock, wood, water, mist, wind, ice and fire that was inherited from the Onis. But none of those was as high as Aya could reach in her flight, and ironically enough the former shape of the temple as the Palanquin Ship.

Leaving the sumptuous house of the good-hearted false god and her collection of freaky friends behind she arrived at the destination of all the water flowing from the forests and the mountains, the Misty Lake. It was the biggest body of water on the whole Gensokyo, but unlike her dwellings it nothing to be proud as Aya have saw many lakes and rivers bigger than this one and she knew of other even bigger than the very land of fantasy. That night was one of the very rare moments when the dark lake didn't make justice to its name as it was freed from its usual thick blanket of milky white misty, allowing its dark surface to reflect the starts from the clearing night sky above. On its northwest margin was another sumptuous residence of another weird but good-hearted youkai and her collection of freaky friends. Shorts of news Aya had no business with both places; she resumed her flight.

Now Aya was soaring over Muenzuka at the very edge of the Youkai Mountain and of Gensokyo itself. It was a great open field in the outskirt of the Youkai Forest littered both with the remains of the deceased humans from the village as well as discarded and lost objects from the outside world that somehow crossed the weak and blurred Hakurei border at its weakest point; probably from where that old umbrella came with the wind and gained life as a Karakasa Obake. Short of funerals and to pay respect to the dead humans rarely visited the region, even the weaker youkais tended to avoid the place as well. It wasn't surprising at all, the large open field, overrun by weed and tall grass had a somewhat unpleasant atmosphere, almost like something if not everything was somehow wrong. But being strong as she was Aya didn't bother being there; actually she enjoyed being there and enjoy the peace of her secret place with her crows. That was, until that little arrogant Mouse youkai barged in and built a shed for her and her small army of rats, mice and other filth. Her crows liked the extra food, but Aya though it was better for her to leave the place for the youkai and avoid unnecessary conflict with her. She didn't mind it, she had better places up in the mountains.

Aya them began her ascension through the spine of the Youkai Mountain and deep into tengu territory, her home. The east part of the range was basically inhabited forest with a couple of dozens of cabins and storehouses here and there in the dense forest; the only building of decent size in the region and that was permanently inhabited was the Hakurou Tengu Defense Corps headquarters a large castle not far from the top of the first mountain of the range. It was on the style of the land, a multi stored cluster of towers of wood built atop a massive base of piled and locked stone, with its walls painted in the starkest of whites. Around its internal walls were a series of long tall houses and an eight point star shaped wall followed by a large open field and followed by another wall and a dry moth; beyond the external wall there was still a series of hidden cabins, barricades, trenches and pit traps forming and even larger defense perimeter. To the untrained and the lesser eyes the white fortress appeared deserted, but with care the shapes of the whites guarding the perimeters of the castle started to became obvious. They did guard their fortress with as much zeal, if not more, as they guard the realms of the tengu. Be it the coldest night of winter or the hottest day they would always be there read for when the peace was no more.

As Aya flew past the fortress she took a better look at her colleagues, like usual the guards of the walls were in their black and white uniforms, while the ones at the trenches were wearing a deep blue with leaves and branches attached to their clothes; they all wore a thick coat of heavy hemp fabric plastered with what the kappas called "rubber", they looked odd in those clothes but they had to wear them. Unlike crows wolves, be a regular or a white, were creatures of the ground and didn't have the power to master the air, so they couldn't make the wind blow to keep them fresh in the heat or make it stop in the cold or even protect them from the rain, so they had to use the goofy kappa made coats if they didn't wanted to get soaked in the rain that was pouring down. Aya knew they all knew of her looking to them up there and safe from the rain; she just could almost feel their spite. But other than a few barbs here and there the hostilities between crows and white wolves was largely a friendly rivalry between colleagues taken a bit too seriously, with the exception of _her._ Even the tough of that damn wolf was enough to make Aya's blood boil, she had to leave before it took hold of her and she did something stupid.

She left the white fortress behind and resumed her flight to east and to her nest. The crow passed by the small valley separating the first and smaller mountain from the rest of the range, its myriad of deep gorges and caves was home to the most important and richest clans of wolves, each trying to build the most impressive and sinister of dens piling up houses that hanged from the abyss or were carved right on its walls and network of bridges and cables that looked like a web from a drunken spider. While the valley itself was where the bulk of the kappa village was located, with each house trying to compete for a spot on the main river to put a water wheel, a dock, a pier, a pipe or whatever water related structure a kappa demanded. Each of the modern houses doubled as a small or factory so each had a collection of chimneys and pipes that put Marisa's cottage to shame.

The second and third mountains of the range harbored on their north face the main population of the tengu society concentrated in a large village sprawled over the mountain side. In contrast to the vast dens of the rich clans the town was cramped and made use of every bit of free space, if it wasn't possible to grow to the side it would either go up into the sky or down into the ground, making it a multidimensional maze. Its population was comprised mostly by the lower rank wolves and the red Hanataka tengus as well as a few Yamabushi tengus and in the best mansions of the town the Dai tengus, the top caste of the society.

The smell of that vivid place brought joy to Aya, she could fell the sweet aroma of best sake from the breweries and lounges and the rich smell from the restaurants serving the most diverse foods. All the noise from the people going up and down the streets and bridges, the music from guesthouses or from the street it all made her heart glow. But she had to put her desires aside and resume her flight to her home, she had a lot of work to do. So she headed further east and into the last mountain of the range. On her way she passed by the Morya temple, on its own lake near the top of the mountain. That place and its gods had brought nothing but disgust and contempt to Aya.

The Youkai Mountain was the tallest of all four and gave name to the range; it was disproportionately big and incredible steep. It didn't had a single summit but at least three tops and a series of spines that radiated from them towards the valley bellow making the space between peaks series of deep gorges and quasi flat platforms. That was where the Karusu crow tengus built their houses. It wasn't a village but a cluster of houses as they weren't so numerous and such thing as order and hierarchy didn't existed among themselves, for that reason both the crows and the rest of the tengus were glad to give the former their own space. That was where her house was, but she wasn't going there yet.

Aya closed her wings, letting the bare minimum of wing to control her flight and she began to descend. She started to gather speed and to get closer to the rocky side of the mountain until she was fast enough to have lift and barely avoid the fast approaching wall of trees and resume her descent just above their canopy. As soon and she pierced the clouds Aya opened her wing and reduced her speed so abruptly that it almost seemed she had stopped in mid-air if she didn't knew better. There she started to glide again, slowly falling down throw the cool misty that the clouds were made of. After some time the point tops of the pines started to pierce the bottom of the clouds like a thousand needles piercing a blanket. And as soon as the surged the pines disappeared and the clouds returned to be an interminable sea of whiteness. And out of the nothingness a dark and unmistakable crooked silhouette took shape; she had arrived.

Aya began to circle the freakish tall and slender building, it was so old that even without receiving a single layer of paint it was black as ink and covered in thick moss and lichens and perpetually moist due to the clouds; how it haven't rotted way as a question that baffled Aya for about a century or so already. The tower was balanced on the very edge of a cliff, and built over a slanted stone base of an yet older building, but outgrew its length so half of wood structure had to be supported by diagonal beams pinned directly into the bare rock and being the only thing other than two massive internal masts that kept the whole thing from plunging into the abyss below. Each time the crow saw it, she swore she would never again trust the wolves to build anything for her ever again, but soon after thanked them for convincing her not to take the kappa offer.

Aya landed on a small horizontal pole on the side facing the chasm, just above the stone base of the tower. She searched on her messenger bag for her key and unlocked the old door, then gracefully walked the length of the perch and entered the dark space, quickly closing and locking the heavy door behind her. Aya tapped the wall until she found a long and heavy leaver, when she pulled it down blue sparks flew in every direction and the vast dark interior of the tower was suddenly illuminated by small and faint orange yellow lights that shimmed like little stars trapped in their fragile glass orbs. Like candles the lamps the kappa made were no replacement for the daylight, and despite being fragile, expensive and temperamental they were stronger than candles, lasted for years and above all didn't offered the risk to set the whole place on fire; the switch was another story, but nothing was perfect with the kappas.

The tower was about nine stores high and mostly hollow, with the floors being not much more than some catwalks around the center cavity, with barely enough space for small table, if that space wasn't already claimed by the two huge masts that were the spine of the tower all assorted things ranging from building material to newspapers that the tengu stored whenever she found a space. The interior of the tower was so cramped that only significant free spaces where the attic under the slated roof, but this was used as a loft for a part of Aya's flock of crows, the entry lounge on the bottom of the wood section of the tower and a little rectangular space on the bottommost level of the building well inside its stone base. Aya jumped into the center hollow from the third level catwalk where the entry door was located and with a single and powerful stroke of her wings managed to land almost weightless. The stone floor had a square section cut out; on its middle a small brass disk which she rotated revealing a keyhole. Aya searched for another key, but this time on a small pocket sewn on the inside of her shirt and put it on the keyhole turning it ninety degrees to the left then ninety degrees to the right and holding it there while she lifted the heavy trap door, revealing a staircase on a dark tunnel.

Aya began to descend through the steep steps carved on the rock and dragging her right hand on the wall, after ten steps the irregular tunnel already became pitch black and a after ten more she found the switch and with a shower of sparks the faint lights began to shine and illuminate the tunnel, albeit in a less spectacular fashion than the ones in the tower. The tunnel kept on going down and down into the bowels of the mountain, making a gentle but constant turn to the left making a huge ninety degrees arc and soon after a sharp hundred and eighty degrees turn followed by a long and leveled straight. One that followed the straight tunnel would keep on going and going into the mountain until the tunnel started to become narrower, more twisted and its walls cruder until it reached a dead-end on a collapsed lava tube; that is if said one didn't stepped into a loose piece of the floor and met the wonders of a barrel covered with nails and filled with gunpowder. But Aya knew this tunnel all too well to ever make such a mistake, so sensing she was just under the entrance she stopped and produced four short rods of the size of her hand from her bag. Two of the rods had a screw on one of their ends and a threaded hole on the other, the other two rods also had the threaded hole but one of them had a knob on the opposite end and the other a three lobbed key. Aya began to screw to the rods together and to secure the connections with a small metal latch that when closed was flushed into the surface of the rods; when she was done she had a long and solid key, roughly the size of her arm. She searched on the left wall of the tunnel for a gap in a particular crack on the rock and put the key on it until the first quarter sunk into the wall, then she turned it half revolution to the right and it sunk another quarter, then left, and then right again. After being fully inserted Aya kept on gently turning the key to the right until she heard a mechanical clack, she then pushed the wall and gradually a section of it began to recede and soon it was swing open almost weightless. Aya entered the new section and turned another light switch, removed her key and closed the metal door with the rock façade.

The tunnel section behind the door couldn't be more different that the other, instead of the crudely carved and poorly lit tunnels there was a perfectly cut and straight gallery with a high arched ceiling and the walls joining the floor in rounded corners, and with so many lamps that it was as bright as any sunny day on the surface. Aya removed her geta and began to walk the corridor, she felt the cool and smooth rock suck the warmth from her feet through her socks; she had finally landed. As Aya walked down the empty corridor she started to think in what she could put on the smooth walls to give a little of beauty into the place, at first she thought of wood and paper but a soulless imitation of a house was the last thing she wanted. She also thought of doing something in the western style, but it would be too much out of place and pompous for her taste. The last thing she was ruminating on was of perhaps doing something different, original. She could try those new glassless lamps that the kappa had just started to sell and that could change color, and decorate the walls with painting and writing and even some carvings. She could do all of that herself but for some reason she always found her time in short supply, or she simply wasn't in the mood, or she started the plans and switched to another more urgent or captivating thing. She though of asking for a favor to her crow and wolf friends, or even hire some red artists, but the last thing she wanted was to reveal her hidden haven, especially to rivals who could gossip for the sake of it; she knew her own kind very well. Nitori and the Inubashiri helped to build the place, but being a kappa Nitori had zero artistic talent and the Inubashiri were completely out of question; she could even get some of them to work but that would entail a visit from _her, _be it for good or be it for bad.

Aya barely noticed she had already reached the end of the corridor and was standing in front of a closed door, those lapses happened often when she tough of that damn wolf. _Do you mind stopping with baying, at least in my mind, and go back to your cannel?! _The light wooden door was unlocked as always, she opened it prepared herself to immerse herself into work once again. Behind the door was a huge shaft, about the size of the tower above but completely circular and empty. For stores it had conjuncts of four tunnels like the one she was in, each connected horizontally by a peripheral one, with the exception of the entry one. The levels were laid in an alternate fashion to insure the structural integrity, and connected by staircases on each extreme; each tunnel sprawled in its level a series of rooms. The bottom level of the shaft was different, it was mostly raw rock, barely worked beyond the rough contour of the shaft, and at its middle a small pool that was fed and had an outflow from an underground river that the wolves found when digging the place; quite surprising that they didn't knew of it considering the massif was riddled with uncountable small waterfalls, part of the reason why the place was perpetually covered by thick clouds. Since Aya had her own river, she decided to make bathing place for her even if it was from ice cold water, and the rustic character of the unworked rock fitted the theme perfectly.

From the entry tunnel was only way to enter the complex and it was down the shaft, a last safety measure against any intruder who got so far so they could be at least slowed down, or with luck hit the sharp rocks on the cold onsen. Aya walked past the edge of the gallery and began to fall until her wing made her float; they were flapping very fast but bearing Aya's weight effortlessly as she slowly dropped two levels down to the tunnel directly below the entry. She landed on a small protrusion over the edge, closed her wings and began walking down the tunnel; its walls filled with locked wooden doors. She then walked the peripheral until she found the first stairwell and descended a level and did the same again, there she walked a quarter of the length of the circular gallery and entered the radial tunnel opposite to the entry. There she entered the first door to her right, under a dark spot due to a light bulb Aya had removed.

Behind the door was a small wooden chamber, its straight edges contrasting with the smooth and round stone wall, and on the other end another door. Each door had a thick and fluffy cord nailed along its edges. Aya closed the door behind her and was engulfed by darkness, she searched the right wall and pulled a switch but instead of the normal yellowish light the chamber was lit with a faint, almost dark, deep ruby-red light, it was as if the whole room was immersed into blood. The room behind the second door was also bathed by the deep red light. It was a fairly large room and mostly empty, save for a bench and a sink on one of its corners and dozens of suspended cables that crossed from one side of the room to the other.

Aya put her bag on the bench and camera on the bench and sat herself on the small stool she just lifted from the floor. It was a simple piece of furniture, carved out of a single block of wood and decorated with some basic geometric patterns like squared spirals, trees and waves, what set it apart from the usual was the fact it had a single leg with a rounded point out of its base. It was a fairly simple solution to a problem that had haunted Aya's early photographer career; falling asleep and waking up only to realize the whole developing process has gone awry and that days if not weeks or even months of work have been destroyed. It were the Kappa who came with the solution for a quite similar series of problems of their own, the only difference being that instead of overexposed film and frustration they had to cope explosions and death. The solution was simple; a stool that didn't allowed its user to fall asleep without kissing the ground and, usually, promptly waking up and avoiding possible disaster. After photography became another of the karasu tengu's obsession they quickly adopted the useful furniture, followed by the hakurou tengu and their wolves as a way to help in their guarding duties and to speed up their shogi game, which was meant as a way to make time pass but as it grow increasingly larger and complex, with matches sometime lasting for days, it became as boring as watching moss and lichen grow over the rocks they guarded.

Balancing herself over one legged stool, Aya began to work. She picked her tools, already set in perfect order over the bench, first a metal container, then a scissor, a spindle, a small metal bar and a bag made of heavy canvas plastered with rubber. Aya opened the metal container and broke it down to its components, a screw lid and a funnel and the container itself. Then she rewound her camera, opened its back panel and removed the roll of film from its slot, closed her camera and put it away. She unfolded the bag and put all of her equipment inside it; she closed the bags mouth with a cord and put her hands inside through two loose flaps of cloth on the side of the bag, that way she could do her work in total darkness. After thousands and thousands of rolls of film, she became so used to her work that it frankly made no difference if she could see her hands and tools or not.

Firstly she pulled the film out of the roll, cut the front flap of the film and loaded it to the spindle, making sure the film was secured by the metal teeth, and she began to spin its two halves transferring the film from the case. When she was finished she cut the film from the case and secured it on the simple. She then used the metal bar to open the lid of the film roll removed the film flap from the central axle and put it back together; she could use her hands but the plastic cases were fragile and the metal bar offered the right support so she could send them back to the kappa to be reloaded with new film. Next she loaded the spindle with the movie into the metal container, making sure it was well fixed unto the central perforated column; she then put the funnel; now she didn't have to worry about the light any more.

Aya removed her material from the canvas bag and put it over the bench once again; she then stood up and went to the sink on the other side of the room. The sink was a big square piece of stamped metal in the shape of a bench that was bolted in the stone wall, it had a deep square bowl in one of its sides with a faucet and douche; above it two shelves carved in the rock were filled with several containers and glassware. Aya picked three long measuring cups and three jugs, each big enough to fill the metal container where the film was now stored, she them picked three small gallons from under the sink and a small container from the shelves; the cups, jugs and gallons where all market into three sets of each component, so that no mistake was made in the preparation of the solutions and their order of use. Aya put one measure of the content of each gallon in their respective jug and completed their volume with water. Next she closed the drain of the sink, filled it with, opened the small container measure the right quantity with its own cap and mixed it with the water.

The crow brought the sealed container to the sink, opened its lid and put the content of the jug marked with a single black line into it, the developer, closed the lid and gently started to spin and turn from side to side the container then tapped it into the metal counter to remove any air bubbles from the film spiral. She had to wait exactly ten minutes for the solution do its work, any less and the developing would incomplete, any more and the film would be destroyed, but she had only her intuition and experience to rely upon and tell herself when it was done. It was impossible to know the time in the underground, even if it was day or night as Aya's cave had no direct opening to the outside. Yet she had no clock, they were such an unbearable annoyance that she simply refused to carry or even keep them in her presence, otherwise their never-ending tic-tac would slowly drive her into madness. Recently tough the kappa have developed a technology that could emulate multiple machines and even some aspects of magic without depending of the whims of the cosmos or how you decorated your house, but that at the same time could be combined with it and turn to be a force to be reckoned like Hatate's phone. But like all things the kappa made it was as still too green and unreliable, it would still take a few years before they perfected it after some crow discovered its problems and sorted it out, the wolves found a way to simplify and use it to harm and kill things and the reds to take the credit for it. So Aya preferred to rely on herself for the time being.

After she felt the right amount of time passed she opened the lid and emptied the first solution on its jug and proceeded to repeat the same process with the two remaining solutions. When she was done she carefully disassembled the metal container and immersed the spindle into the last solution, making sure she washed it thoughtfully. When she was done and the water on the tank frothed she gave the reel of film a final wash in clean water, making sure all the chemicals were washed away, then she began to slowly unreel it. The thin black strip of plastic got longer than her wing span when she got it all out of the spindle; she hanged it to dry on the cables running by the ceiling, making sure that there was a good arched belly between clips. Now she only had to wait for them to dry.

When the film was dry enough she picked it up and run it against the dark red lamps of Gensokyo; she sighed in relief. Her smile made a pair with the black and white smile of the young witch on the film. She once again picked the film and brought it to her bench so she could cut up the different sections of the negative. Marisa and her experiment weren't the only things Aya had registered that day. Most of the film was about the state of the human's farm and crops, the slowly but constant expansion of the Myouren temple and its influence, changes on the silent war in bamboo forest of the lost, activity on the border with the other-world, activity on the Scarlet Devil Mansion, changes in the objects scattered around Muenzuka and the general outlook of the human village among other things. All of that she would report on and send the negatives to the Grand Tengu Consil, more interesting thing directly to Temna and the critical ones straight to her personal archive; she wasn't interested in charring too much with the old red nose, downplaying herself and her abilities was always useful when the tables turned.

After she got the sections of film separated and put on several envelopes she kept on her purse, Aya began to clean and put everything back into place before she left the darkroom. Back to the sterile corridor Aya went to the stairs and went down two more levels and exactly bellow the dark room. There she entered the only door on both sides of the smooth rock tunnel. Unlike the previous room this one was as well-lit as possible, having as many light bulbs as the rest of the complex. In fact there were so many light bulbs that holes had to be made on the floor and ceiling to ventilate the room and keep it from becoming a sauna. Aya needed all of that light to make reading and writing an effortless matter as well as clearing her mind for that, and more specifically the large desk with a single legged stool on the exactly center of the room, was the heart of her whole operation, On that room she writes, edits and put her newspaper together before sending it to the press.

The room was filled with dozens of file archives and boxes overflowing with paper and negative envelopes. The walls, the ceiling and even par of the floor were covered with notes and pictures glued and drawing and writings made of charcoal, ranging from simple doodles to complex spider webs connecting pictures and names of practically every figure that was significant to Gensokyo since before it being sealed from the outside world, each with a date of importance and the number of his or hers or its file. And on the middle of the room, besides the table, were several mobile partitions. These were where Aya organized the current stories she was working with and put them either right in front of her desk or next to the files if the story was stuck for whatever reason. Currently Aya had only two of them next to her desk, the next edition of her paper and its main story; Marisa's.

The Bunbunmaru was Aya's newspaper, one of the first printed on the mountains and one of the most popular and with the best pictures and writing, but nonetheless it was considered mediocre at best. Aya never really felt offense, she never intended it to be nothing more than a hobby, a way to occupy and amuse her days that grew more and more boring and indistinguishable from each other as the years passed by, and to give her an excuse to build her a new house, spy on Gensokyo and start other projects. The crow wrote her newspaper with intent; she wanted to draw emotions and actions from what was black in the white. Sometimes the mere fact she wrote of something that never happened made people believe in it and do it themselves. And the worlds of the Yama gave a new meaning and purpose to her "work"; she could ally the pleasurable with the useful. If her words moved the Tengu like pieces of Shogi she could at least try to play the game instead of just screwing around.

Usually she kept a low profit and let her newspaper be nothing more than a harmless tabloid, but never without full control of the consequences, but from time to time she would excel herself and write something worth of a serious paper and her own talent. Usually those articles were made where critical moves were necessary, or for when she entered the annual newspaper competition. Usually she lost, sometimes fairly but most of the time plainly injustice in order to favor someone with a more prestigious name; she could understand them, letting that ill speaking, sensationalist and manipulative crow win our prestigious event and steal a spot for our officially sponsored entries. That would make her next couple of move all the more delightful.

The little witch had being working for quite some time into a new projects herself, something big. For months Marisa had increased her burglaring an assault to such high levels that even without keeping a close watch on her Aya couldn't help but to be flooded with whispers on the wind about the blonde girl. The stolen, or as she would say "borrowed, items were of the same nature as the ones she usually got: Books from Patchouli's library, potions and ingredients from Eientei, magic scrolls from the Myoren temple, items from the outside world from Korindou, Technology and machines from the kappa, magic seals and charms from Reimu and the mountain hermit. But oddly enough she would try to purchase the items when she couldn't get them for free, and more oddly she was making frequent visits to the underground. What she was bringing was the oddest of things, mere rocks that soon Aya discovered were ores, as well as the reason for all of that madness.

Marisa had always being a brilliant even if inexperienced magician, always trying to make the boldest and flashiest spells she could think off and generally with great effect, counting she actually aimed them at the right target and not her own house. Aya giggled just with the tough of prank Aya made the witch play on herself; if everything went right the two would soon be drinking tea and laughing about the small incident.

After some time spying on the girl, and consulting with diverse experts in magic ranging from other witches like Alice Margatroid, Byakoren Hijiri and Patchouli Knowledge, to youkais like the Yuakari and Ran Yakumo, The Lunarian elder Eirin Yagokoro, and even the resident hermit Kasen Ibara. With the bits of information Aya overheard, her drawings and pictures they all came to the same conclusion, Marisa was aiming to a very simple but extremely difficult spell that could change life in Gensokyo forever. What the little witch intended to do with her spell was to use magic in a different way. Instead of using magic to bend if no to outright ignore the common laws governing the universe in order to archive something, she intended to make the two forces to work together as one. In principle it was simple and not very difficult, said Aya's sources, it is actually a common thing known as elemental magic. The hard part they said was to start to mix the more fundamental and complex forces of the inner workings of the universe, and even more complex was to make them actually do something other than simply heat or cool or attract or change two things in a predictable and controllable manner. They said that if Marisa archived that she could replicate all of what normal technology could with the easy of magic and at the same time make all the wonders of magic be stable and perennial without depending on magic to exist; they all said it was merely chasing butterflies, a noble but useless waste of time. The two sets of forces that coexisted were fundamentally incompatible, the universe has rules and magic cheats on them, you cannot mix the two. The closest to what Kirisame was dreaming off was Lunarian technology, a mere surrogate of an ideal that could pass as it but on close inspection and on more demanding projects fell short and merely accomplished thing trough brute force.

When the pieces started to come together and a general picture started to form in the crucible that was the crow's mind, Aya suddenly realized how important was Marisa's work; how much more it was than a mere show off to boost the little's witch own ego. It was simple and whole, clear as the water that powered out of the bowels of the mountain and as striking as a lighting from the heavenly oarfish. Even with the odds against her, the implications of her success were too great to be ignored. If Marisa succeeded she wouldn't just close the technological gap between Genoskyo and the outside world; she would revert it. Aya had to find a way to put the tengu in its grace and herself at the center of it. To guarantee that she made sure she would stick around from the very beginning and that she would help Marisa's work to flourish. The only problem was that she wasn't the only or even the first to realize the obvious.

Aya already suspected that the old youkai was involved and that she knew Aya had interests on the witch that went beyond selling newspapers. And the final interview confirmed her suspicions; Aya made that clear to the old youkai, whom laughed and told her to stand down and take a back seat. That was expected from her, so it was enough Aya tell her about details about the life in the Yakumo household to make sure she knew very well that the Gap Youkai's lore of omnipotence and omniscience was everything but truth, and to swirl the skies around their house as a warning of what was bound to come if Yukari overstepped her job of gamekeeper and insisted on trying boss over her. "Your only function is to make sure our border s strong and that there is plenty of game for us youkai to feast upon forever, and while your zeal for our wellbeing is commendable you must remember of one thing. What happens on the master's castle is none of your concern." The crow tengu told the old youkai.

Yukari in turn lowered her weapons but struck with her tongue. "Indeed, that is my job, to put down of whatever spark comes out of flying from that madhouse before it burns the whole valley; if you want to burn yourself that is none of my concern. That is if that magnificent mountain of yours was truly the master's house, or even yours for that matter."

"Oh, but that mountain belong to us, and if you're implying that we are not their owners I must remind you we came before those disgusting brutes." Aya said as she fought on the new terms her host tough she imposed on her. "And yes, steward, that is the master's house and, if it wasn't the master's voice wouldn't be talking to you and you wouldn't be running away and trying to do some damaged control after you realized how badly screwed you are. That, or you're an idiot… or and old hag getting senile. I mean you probably was a looker a few millennia ago, now… tsk tsk, Ran outshines and thing will probably just get worse and worse as time pass by, and even worse when that cute kitten of yours mature."

The interview had being almost a year ago but Aya could still taste in her mouth the anger from Yukari. "You must be oh so full of yourself, aren't you? Well the same curse will fall over you, that is if your kind's own curse doesn't get you first. You black and white bastards live very long and young lives, but you're all oh so prone to accidents."

"You only wish doesn´t you, to ever have such a nice body as mine? Wishing is all you have, as well as you withering memories and your time running short. Live fast, die young and pretty, and with your whole mental faculties intact. Albeit I must say that times have changed and they will once again change; it will be fun to watch the first crow and white wolf die from old age, perhaps all this filthy will be long gone. And while I feel flattened by all the attention, I think we should return to the main subject of our discussion." Aya kept or the pressure to see a crack in Yukari's composure would appear.

"That is, not burning down the whole of Gensokyo because you got carried away in one of your power trips you have every century?" Yukari bite back.

"Power trips? Me? Don't be preposterous my dear Yakumo." Aya jested. "I think that applies much better to yourself, gamekeeper." That was met with a blank stare filled with contempt. The crow got what she wanted, stripped the old youkai of its sarcasm and knocked her from her high horse, so she could focus on business. "What exactly do you want with Marisa's work? I know you are interested in it, and keeping your hegemony is a pretty obvious guess but the core intention scape me, as you was wise enough not to run your mouth loose."

"Hegemony you say, well it's merely a consequence and a useful tool for my job. I only want the good of Gensokyo and its people." Yukari answered, being much more direct and forgetting all their jesting.

"Lovely words, but not so lovely actions," Aya said in a much more severe tone tha usual. "You claim to act in our behalf and you indeed act, but the help part seems to be in an awful lot of shortage except if it's on the human end of thing. And please spare me of your rambling and your lies; I'm already tired of them. So please cut the bullshit and goes straight to the point." As soon as she said that Aya noticed anger surging on Yukari face, as well as a small black tears on both of her hands. "Is that so?!" The crow said and shake her wings, sending a small wind across the room that after a moment of quietude returned as a pressure wave from the outside of the house that burst every single window in the house and made its doors start banging widely as if possessed. The wind could be heard licking the outside of the house as it tore everything around it and howled manically like if all the wolf packs had come down the Youkai Mountain and where just waiting a command to break into the house and rip the soft throat and bellies of the Yakumo.

Yukari didn't even flinched at Aya's _tour de force_, but neither did she act; she probably knew better. "Impressive, I presume that killing you won't stop the storm. Well it doesn't matter we well be far way even before it gets inside and tore you down instead." She said with a smirk but with a strangely heavy and deep breathing.

"Is that what you really think? Well I be damned you're absolutely correct," Aya said rolling her eyes upwards and showing her empty hands as in admitting defeat. "That is if you ignore reality and presume I won't take you down even before your body starts to obey your mind; be sure I won't kill you. Oh no, I will make you watch your pets being torn to pieces by the wind as you taste the fruits of your arrogance and contemplate on your impotence; your reality. That's _if _ you can even take action, what is the matter, getting a little difficult to breathe? Getting dizzy? I can assure it's not your age, you may be an old hag but you're not _that _decrepit, albeit I must be wary of my generosity with words as you demonstrate traits of dementia. Wind manipulation can take many forms, just as easily as I can blow winds I can stop or even removed them altogether and create a vacuum. And I would advise you not to be a smartass and open a gap in your lungs, unless you happen to an immortal like that pesky silver haired butch. Yield?"

After that the old yukai yielded and Aya made the winds disappear in an instant and the two started to discuss how to manage Marisa's work. The only demand Aya made was that besides the little witch herself the tengu would have monopoly on whatever she came up with. Yuakari's part of the deal was that the tengus didn't abuse their power, and she was free to give away the magic to whoever needed it the most in order to maintain the balance between the other parties of Gensokyo. The only issue was Marisa cooperation, but considering her penchant for glory and the greedy nature of humans she would be easy to buy, in the worst case Yukari would have to find yet another witch of the forest.

With her mind back into her desk Aya prepared herself for another round of work; research, compilation, writing and photograph were all done now she only had to assemble all of that into something coherent and appealing. And this time the assemble would be much more difficult, not only because of the nature of the reporting but mainly due to the nature of format Aya chose to publish her story. Tengus wrote poetry and argumentative article because that was what they always wrote, news articles being the exception but despite being fairly new they soon became part of the, and only a odd balls each quarter of century trying to make novels. Newspapers became popular for two reasons: Their obvious usefulness and their novelty factor as they were based off a few exemplars from the outside world. But there was also a piece of journalism from the outside world that was as old as the newspapers but only started to gain popularity in the last decades, something that Aya always wanted to try but never had the motivation to actually do it before Marisa provided her with a spark. Aya was going to write a a magazine.

All in all a magazine wasn't that different from a newspaper, only it would be published in much longer interval but that would allow the stories to have the length needed for an adequate depth, rhetoric, and a much more subtle highlight of the facts and the presentation of the adequate perspective of reality than the short and frequent editions of the bunbumaru allowed her to do; something the crow herself admitted as a shortcoming. It also would be printed into a much thicker paper and of higher quality than the regular newspaper, akin to book what would allow for much more detailed drawings, pictures and freedom of the graphic part. It would be, as the humans said, the difference between wine and water. The thing Aya liked the most was the idea of returning to the slow paced nature of her kind and the land they inhabited, going fast had its advantages but the small things moments were lost and of what a couple of millennia were worth if even those simple things couldn't be enjoyed, such a worthless existence should only be bequeathed to the transient beings only.

Aya began to carefully arrange copies of her

She wasn't building the magazine itself, but rather a simulation of it, an instruction that the printing shop could translate into a finished magazine; an instruction so clear, precise, direct and detailed that each page meant to be replicated was followed by another that was dedicated to every minute detail of the printing specifications. For each of its good points like the quality and consistence it guaranteed the method brought it had ten other negatives that could be summed up in the biggest, most inefficient and stupid bureaucracy fuck that any youkai, human, yama or whatever had ever to face. The thing was so absurd that the specifications for each page had to comply with certain specifications, and each shop had its own unique interpretation. The worst part was that there was no working around it; by law only yamabushi-tengu had the rights to print anything in the tengus' dwellings. The only consolation was that the sponsors of the law, the hanataka-tengu, due to a lack of foresight were not out of its reach of and their precious maps and poetry had to pass by the same hell and the crows' newspapers.

The running joke among the crows was that the whole thing was a clever ploy from the hanataka-tengu to make the karasu-tengu feel good, as having to create such a concise, clear and precise messages that bordered the divine revelation so even imbeciles like the yamabushi-tengu would understand it was clearly the work of superior beings and they would forget about the clear injustice of being denied to have their own voices without asking for permission; the yamabushi were just the final insult. The joke didn't last very long before it was replaced by the wolves' version: They were all idiots. The hanataka and karasu for starting the fire, the dai for letting the whole thing continue to exist in some bizarre rationale that they could get something from it, the kappa for refusing to join the tengu but being subject to its laws and therefore useless, the yambushi for being yamabushi-tengu, and hakurou tengu for some reason haven't put the tarred heads of everyone into stakes. Something tingled at the base of each of Aya's feathers, deep into her skin, that the joke was the joke part.

After having put the number of the negatives in their respective places and worked out their layout, Aya put the envelope containing them together with the blueprint into a thick leather case. The case had to be with tight specifications as well, made of thick waxed leather, lined with wood and wooden compartments like the pages of a book, steel rims, a lock, not one but two handles that folded flush and a rubber casket. That was something that many complained due to the cost of making one within specs, but Aya learned to appreciate it after not a few of her newspapers and picture were saved from being destroyed by the rivers that snaked their way down the mountain trough rapids and waterfalls each more violent than the other. Aya was finally done, months and months of work, interviews, negotiations and all that came with journalism was done, concentrated into a single pile of paper and a few negatives into that red dyed case ready to be printed and to take the Youkai Mountain, the newspaper competition and the whole Gensokyo by assault; nothing ringed. It was always like that, Aya knew very well the work was not done yet, it never was. The magazine would still have to be printed, then she would have to distribute it, then it would come the public scrutiny, after that the the scrutiny of the completion, followed by the test of time that which rested upon the shoulders of Marisa's work which its future rested upon the shoulders of Aya's work. Aya stood up and carried her precious cargo away from room, leaving the whole mess of photos and annotations untouched as she still had work to do with Marisa.

Aya decide to wait a while before delivering the case, time was plenty and she was tired from having to spy the witch all day, too tired to have to deal with the printing shop's bullshit. She could go to her house and have proper rest but she didn't want to lose her stream of tough, there might have being details that she let pass or didn't tough and her nice plushy house would certainly break her inertia and make her slack. For that Aya had put a sleeping chamber in the underground complex, an afterthought but enough for her needs. Aya walked down the corridor and stood in the edge of the floor, facing the great atrium. High up in the shaft was a container hanging from the vaulted ceiling, right where it started to arch. The container resembled a garden lantern only much bigger, enough to fit a person inside. Aya stepped into the nothing, in a moment her wings opened and took her weight away, suspending her in the middle of the huge shaft. She flapped her wings in slow and long strokes gaining height with easy until she was facing the suspended lantern which rocked back and forth with the huge black wings were displacing. With a movement of her hand Aya made the wind hold the square lantern still and as soon as she landed on a small horizontal pole protruding from its base she let it go and the suspended room began to rock ever so slightly. Aya opened the sliding door, put her right foot inside, spun around it and closed the door in a single movement.

The suspended contraption resembled a lantern only in its exterior shape, and by the fact it had paper wall that helped illuminate the central atrium of the artificial cave; its interior was much different tough. It had a wooden floor and two wooden cabinets occupying opposite halves of opposite walls, and right on front of the door a small proper chair on western style. The cabinet or her right had a sunken lower part and its top part opened in the vertical, turning its door into a desk and reveling its segmented interior filled with paintbrushes, ink, seals, waxes, parchment and a myriad of other assorted things related to writing; Aya made it so, so that any thoughts in her dreams didn't had time to dissolve back into her murky memories before they could be recorded. The cabinet on the left also opened into the vertical, but instead of a desk it unfolded into a bed and its interior and the lower part of the bed contained a few extra clothes Aya might needed.

Aya undressed, first her socks, skirt and panties only to then work on the shirt as it was a more complicated matter. She reached the back of her collar and began working a button under the fold, then did the same thing on her right shoulder pad and in the upper fold around the wing hole in the back of the shirt allowing her to remove the collar, then began to unbutton the front of the shirt, finally she let the piece of white linen fell into the floor. _Having wings is sometimes a chore. _She tough as she undid her bra and reached for her silk night-clothes in the wardrobe and was about began the whole process again. _At least they are not useless like tails are._

After all the work was done she reached for a switch on the low roof of the cell, right under the scoring point, and turned off all of the lights of the complex at the same time, then just fell from where she was standing, face on, into the bed. Western beds were weird, but since she tried one she became enamored with the idea and after getting one herself she just couldn't go back to the old ways. They were much warmer and softer yet firmer and less slippery than a futon, all of those great for when Aya was performing the arts of love. Everyone agreed that the results were better, except for most wolves;they usually liked it wrought and it_ was_ not unusual for both sides come out with not a few scratches and bites and the room destroyed.

Despite being an afterthought the room was one, if not the thing that Aya most liked on her whole kingdom. The gentle rocking of the room, its coziness and simplicity gave her a sense of calmness and peace that allowed all the petty and small problems and the petty and small people around her to be just what they were; petty and small insignificant. The seemingly infinite memories the crow that got murkier and more confused the further and deeper into the past, suddenly became orderly fast and crystal clear as if she just had lived the two millennia of her life in the last two minutes in that soft and warm bed. Most of all even touchy things like the trail of lost one she left throughout the centuries and the wolf, stopped stirring her heart, they simply were a matter to be reflected and understood in their mystery and absoluteness. Aya still lamented those, but not them per se, not her broken heart or their sad and enraged face, theirs mistakes or her mistakes; only the situation It worked so well that it inspired, by Aya's suggestion, the suspended spiraling prayer cells in the Myouren temple. The train of though was lost and fangs of the wolf once again started to strangle Aya's throat and her huge paws to crush her chest. _Why? Why it's always like this, why it never gets better? _She lamented as the tears started to roll down her face and she tried not to cry. Even if there was nobody there she just didn't want to cry again; she didn't want to waste more tears alone. So she kept staring into the paper ceiling trying not to cry, just waiting for the darkness to take her burden away for the night. _Life is very long. _She remembered bitterly.


End file.
